The Next CEOs

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May, 2001 by Cindy Gillis, Sarah Gonser

THE CHALLENGE: In the role of CEO, Ridley might find her greatest strength could present her toughest challenge. She could find it difficult to make decisions that benefit the company if they hurt any employees, two publishing executives say.

HUGH ROOME

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.'S MAGAZINE DIVISION, When publishing execs consider the likelihood of Scholastic Inc.'s Hugh Roome as a chief executive, they cite as proof his success in invigorating the 81-year-old publishing company's moribund magazine division.

At Scholastic, Roome "made something out of nothing," in the words of one investment banker. Says a recruiter in the business, "He took a nonexistent magazine division in a book company and made it bigger and profitable." Under Roome, magazine division revenue increased between 75 and 80 percent, says the investment banker, to between $175 million to $200 million--out of total company revenue of $1.4 billion in 2000.

Roome, who joined Scholastic in 1991, transformed the magazine division by dusting off the group's 50-plus educational magazines and repositioning them as digital platforms accessible from classrooms throughout the United States. At the same time, he sought out creative partnerships, such as a joint venture with The New York Times Company to launch Upfront, a 200,000-circulation teen newsmagazine, and an agreement with NBC to produce after-school Olympic specials for the 2000 Summer Games. He spearheaded in 1999 the acquisition of Denver-based database company QED, which provided Scholastic with a database of four million teachers and educators, and the acquisition in early 2000 of Soccer Jr. and its Web sites, giving Scholastic footing for a kids sports franchise.

THE CHALLENGE: At the family-run Scholastic, two sources interviewed for this story say that Roome has never taken a major decision-making role. "He's an implementor, rather than a creator," says a recruiter. "His products are middle-of-the-road products. He certainly hasn't taken a company, like Stephen Colvin at Dennis Publishing, and created something from the ground up."

JOHN SKIPPER

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GENERAL MANAGER, ESPN INTERNET GROUP John Skipper's claim to fame is the enduring success of ESPN The Magazine, which he oversaw from its launch in 1998 until early 2000, when he became senior vice president and general manager of ESPN Internet Group. "He's a revenue-generator, an operator, and he knows how to hire the right people," says Ed Koller, president and CEO of executive search firm The Howard Sloan Koller Group.

During his tenure as senior vice president and general manager of the magazine, ESPN revolutionized the sports magazine category with a hip, irreverent tone that reflected the convergence of sports and pop culture. Positioned as the sports title for the MTV generation, ESPN's growth was explosive: After two years, it averaged revenue gains of 62 percent (despite at 4 percent ad-page decline), and in 2000, ad spending grew another 45 percent from $78 million to $112 million, according to Publishers Information Bureau, even while pages dipped 3 percent.